* Dollar hits hits 15-year low vs yen
* Intervention talk fades; market suspects trading glitch
* Nikkei underperforms Asian stocks
By Koh Gui Qing
SYDNEY, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Asian shares jumped on Monday,
lifted by surprisingly strong manufacturing data from CHina,
while the dollar shot up from a 15-year low against the yen,
stirring speculation of Japanese intervention.
But the U.S. currency quickly gave up its gains, with
traders saying the move was likely caused by a trading glitch
rather than intervention. [] The Japanese Finance
Ministry declined to comment on the incident. []
The MSCI Asia share index outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS>
rose 1.6 percent, led by gains in Hong Kong and Shanghai, after
data showed China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI)
for manufacturing rose to a six-month high in October.
The PMI rose to 54.7 in October from 53.8 in September,
higher than the median forecast of 52.9 in a Reuters poll of 12
economists and, in fact, higher than every individual forecast.
[]
HSBC's China PMI also hit a six-month high last month.
[]
But Japanese shares, Asia's worst performer this year,
eased a touch as the yen's strength weighed on exporters.
The Nikkei average <> was down 0.2 percent near a new
seven-week low. Top Japanese brokerage Nomura was among the
biggest losers <8604.T>, with its shares slumping 3.6 percent
after Friday's disappointing earnings.
For the year, Japan's underperformance is striking. The
Nikkei is down 13 percent, compared to an 11 percent rise in
the MSCI index.
Speculation about possible Japanese intervention kicked in
after the dollar spiked as far as 81.60 yen <JPY=> on trading
system EBS in a matter of seconds, from 80.40 before, and
compared to a 15-year low of 80.21 hit in early trade.
But by mid-morning Asian trade, the yen had recovered to
80.67, within spitting distance of its post-war record low of
79.75.
"Judging from the price action, the market probably doesn't
think right now there had been any intervention," said a trader
at a major Japanese bank.
Currency investors have been on edge about possible
intervention from Tokyo after it intervened to sell the yen in
September for the first time in six years to pull the dollar
from a 15-year low.
The U.S. dollar <.DXY>, struggling to hold ground due to
entrenched speculation the Federal Reserve could further ease
policy when it meets this week by buying more U.S. government
bonds, was down 0.3 percent against a basket of currencies.
The soft U.S. dollar was a boost to commodity prices. Oil
rose towards $82 a barrel [], gold hit a two-week high
[], spot silver <XAG=> jumped to 30-year peaks and
palladium climbed to nine-year highs.
Some analysts said share and commodity prices could tear
higher still if the Fed pledges to buy more bonds than the
market expects, or if the Bank of England follows the Fed's
lead by further loosening policy when it meets this week.
The market thinks the Fed would promise to buy at least
$500 billion of Treasury debt over five months to support U.S.
growth. []
"Gold has perked up again," said Greg Gibbs, an RBS analyst
in Sydney. "The gold bugs may also be eyeing the not negligible
risk that the Bank of England follows the Fed."
(Additional reporting by Tokyo Markets team))
(Editing by Kazunori Takada)
